Hashut
Hashut, City of Remembrance "The delegation was stunned momentarily as we passed through what seemed for all the world to be a blazing inferno, and yet in a moment's time, we stumbled into a vast and deathly cold mausoleum untouched by fire. There we met our host and his manifold servants, arrayed before us as an honor guard in golden armor. I do not know what was more terrible; the fierceness of his guardians' visages and armaments...or that we heard not a single breath in that ghastly place that was not our own." - Baron Gillame Fortence, envoy of the throne of Ferradar to the court of the Elohim Lord Kemitri the Timeless At its heart, Hashut was once the vast tomb-city of an ancient Neph king, his name and legacy lost to time long before the reign of Nephteri the Undying. Buried with all of his noble family, along with thousands of servants, guardians and functionaries executed that they might serve him forever in the afterlife, the great king built a subterranean city for their earthly remains to inhabit, along with his wealth and libraries of magical wisdom and lore. When the Elohim arose, they discovered the ancient tomb in their search for their peers, and claimed its treasure and secrets for their kind. Within they discovered the tools they would use to rebuild their peoples’ power: the Witch Portals. The portals are an ancient fragment of Neph arcana, dating back to the golden era of the empire - ornate circular gates of witch-iron which, when activated, allow one to step through a sheet of emerald flame and emerge from another Witch Portal hundreds or thousands of miles away in a heartbeat. Combined with the ancient king's vast repository of magical lore and spell formulae, this gave the Elohim and their first followers a strong base to make expeditions from. From their new power base the Elohim began using the unearthed lore therein to seek out their slumbering brethren, reach out to them, and where possible connect their tombs to the Elohim’s growing city by placing a Witch Portal at their location. By this method Hashut has grown from a city-sized graveyard to a true planar metropolis, with buried districts scattered months of travel apart, yet only a step away thanks to the blazing emerald portals that dot the city’s avenues. The Elohim have even expanded to subterranean areas outside of Tahkhet, with Witch Portals opened to the far corners of the continent, the great cities of the kingdoms of men and Aelfirr alike and even to other planes of existence. It is not uncommon to find a Nephilim ambassador plying his trade in the court of every major city, swathed in veils and perfumes to mask his disconcerting form. Today, brave lore seekers and traders from all over Estia travel to Hashut, and those outsiders accepted into these halls and permitted to leave have spoken of the haunted feel of this place, of the terrible stillness of the ancient tomb-city. They tell awed stories of cavernous chambers of basalt and obsidian lit by spectral lamps, suspended stone causeways cris-crossing above tiled promenades in vast and eerily silent halls, and shimmering emerald Witch Portals guarded by silent constructs of bronze and stone. They whisper over ale of the imperious Nephilim lords and ladies who travel the city in tattered finery and alabaster masks, gathering in the markets and librariums to exchange tidbits of lore and advance their many plans and schemes. Most of all, the travelers speak with awe of the magical markets that dot the city. Thanks to the Nephilim obsession with magical knowledge and power, it is well-known that the Elohim lords of Hashut allow the trade of goods proscribed in many lands, including poisons, outlawed magical items, necromantic ritual components, relics and writings devoted to demonology and worse. This permissive attitude, along with Hashut’s many Witch Portals reaching into dark and strange corners of the world and beyond, means that one can acquire anything one’s heart desires if one can but search long enough in the Tomb City’s halls, provided that the inquirer is not overly picky about the price, as it applies to gold...or the soul. TO BE ADDED Major districts, with descriptions of points of interest. Map of the city, with a list of major Witchfire Portal destinations.